The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-11-19

VI may aOu, concerning the para chute, that it is not at present much used by balloonists, and, when used, is now employed mainly to amuse or astonish the crowd at public ascents. Yet there are emergencies when par achute will save an eronaut's life.
 "The professor had one made for trial. He was not much used to par achutes himself at that time. We in- Hated the balloon and made several ascents, expressly to test it. At first we put bags of ballast into the car of the parachute and let them drop. Im- mediately we learned this important fact, that to have the parachute avail anything, it is necessary to start from a considerable height.
 "When dropped from an elevation ofa hundred feet only, it had not time to unfold and act on the air; car and ballast came to the ground like a stone. But at the height of twelve hundred feet, the fall was checked and the parachute came gently to the earth. We tried it with ballast twenty times, should think. Then the professor declared himself ready to go down in it, and got into the car. We were ten or twelve hundred feet from the ground. It was perfectly calm.
 "'Ready ? he called up to us.
 "Burt pulled the knot, and down went our senior, like shot at first :; then he seemed almost to stop; then went lodging about, this way and that, till he reached the ground and we imagined that he struck fully as hard as was agreeable to him.
 "After this Burt tried it two or three times. and said it was safe enough for all he could see. But it was some time before mustered cour- age to go down in it, and never shall forget my sensations the first time 1 did attempt it It was one calm April morning. Burt went up with me. He and the professor had been joking me for some time about It. I thought it might be as we'll to try it then as to dread it any longer; so slid down into the parachute car, and laid hold of the cords. We were up about ten hundred feet.
 "Are you ready?' asked Burt.
 "'Yes,' responded, gripping the cords.
 "Then he let me drop.
 "For the first seventy-fve or hun dred feet felt the wind whistle through my hair l thought surely that l was going to my death! Then the parachute seemed to stop, and fetch up with jerk almost. TAcn it lunged off sidewise then went off on the other tack, and every time it gave a lunge, the air would tlurt out from under it with an explosive noise. h. stead blooming perpendicularly down. l landed some two or three hundred feet to the left, and on pile of stones, which hurt my feet ontrageously,
 But perhaps am giving a rather unfavorable account of parachutes," the professor continued. "l am free to confess that do not like them, and l have only too good reasons for my dislike but they are usually popular. There is something curious, too, in the effect they have on a crowd. Let the people be never so noisy, a parachute will turn them all as mute as statues, and when at length it touches the ground, every individual will draw q long breath.
 "McClintock did most of the para chute feats that season.
 "Throughout the southern states our parachute was the attraction that year and the next, though during this next summer, the professor brought out far more taking attraction |; nothing less, in fact, than his own lit- tie daughter, Mabel Herndon. It al- ways seemed very strange to me that he should allow his own child to en- counter the perils of balloon ascent, even in the calmest weather. Though good hearted man, the professor was little queer.
 "Mabel was hardly five years old. Of course, such child would be pop ular with the public, for she was a little blue-eyed, golden haired fairy, and she would lean over the edge of the car, and throw kisses down in the most charming manner. She had plenty of courage-the courage of childish innocence, which does not re- alize danger.
 "But Burt and realized it, and dreaded it on her account, for we grew very fond of the child, who, month after month, shared our peril.
 "The Chariot of the Sky was a very pretty balloon and beautifully decorated. The professor made num- Der of ascents with us. We went up in the role of The Herndon Family. But it was found to be more popular on the whole, for the professor to keep in the background. The public liked young faces best. It seemed more wonderful to people to see us launch | off alone. without an experienced face